


To Watch the Sun Go Down

by FairestCat



Category: Chrestomanci - Jones
Genre: Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Diana Wynne Jones - Freeform, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-21
Updated: 2009-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-04 22:46:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FairestCat/pseuds/FairestCat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Conrad Tesdinic was 18 years old, he left Chrestomanci castle behind and returned to the world of his birth for the first time in six years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Watch the Sun Go Down

**Author's Note:**

  * For [toasty_fresh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/toasty_fresh/gifts).



When Conrad Tesdinic was 18 years old, he left Chrestomanci castle behind and returned to the world of his birth for the first time in six years. Gabriel de Witt shook his hand formally and gave him contact information for a Miss Merrill, Chrestomanci's current Agent in Ludwich, who had been stationed there to keep an eye on the aftermath of the events at Stallery. Miss Merrill would get him up to speed on his duties as an Agent before returning to her own home in series eight. "You're ready for this, Mr. Tesdinic," Gabriel de Witt said firmly. "I have every confidence in you." Conrad didn't know what to say.

Christopher and Millie came down to the grand entranceway to see him off, but he declined Christopher's offer to come with and help him get settled in his new place, preferring to make all his goodbyes at once. Christopher didn't ask for an explanation, just smiled and shook Conrad's hand, "Well, alright. Good luck to you.

Miss Merrill was younger than Conrad had expected, with a ready smile and a cheerful, talkative manner. She was returning home with a doctorate in Applied Metaphysics. "Being an Agent hardly takes up any time, really. I took the job because it was a great chance to do some research. Ludwich has one of the best Metaphysics programs in the related worlds," she said, piling heavy arcane-looking textbooks into a box. "Here, can you hand me that tape?" She filled him in on the various magical happenings she was keeping an eye on and the procedures for reporting to the Castle while filling box after box with books and papers she "just couldn't bear to leave behind." Later he helped her stack them precariously into a pentagram while she gave him recommendations for all the best places in the city, and then waved her on her way with a promise that he would forward on to her the one last volume she was expecting to be delivered by post "any day now".

His duties as an Agent turned out to be the simplest part of living in Ludwich. Since the intent had always been for Conrad to return to his own world, series seven history and current events had been a large part of his lessons at Chrestomanci castle, but it wasn't long before he realized exactly how much those classes hadn't covered. Before his Monday morning Advanced Botanical Spellcraft lecture, he was baffled by his classmates' discussion of the previous night's episode of a popular television serial, and when called upon for an opinion had to confess that he hadn't seen even a single episode. That night, he mentioned the incident to Mr. Prendergast, who exclaimed that this was a shocking gap in his education and proceeded to narrate to him the plots of half a dozen popular shows, complete with exaggerated impressions of the characters and gossipy asides about some of the actors, until the surfeit of new information made Conrad's head spin.

In his Wednesday Comparative Enchantments seminar, he discovered that the foundational spells he'd learned at Chrestomanci Castle were all slightly different from the ones the other students used. The professor thought it was wonderfully exciting and wanted to talk to him after class about alternate approaches to spellcraft and subtle differences in magical practice between worlds. Conrad agreed that the differences were fascinating, but inwardly he was frustrated to find just one more way he was out of step with his classmates. While Ludwich was much bigger than Stallchester, Conrad had still expected returning to his own England to be easy and familiar,

On Friday, worn out from his first week of classes, Conrad arrived back at Mr. Prendergast's flat to find a familiar, lanky figure leaning against the front steps. Lately Christopher had taken to wearing fine, perfectly-tailored suits that made him look older than his 21 years, but today he was dressed casually, but still impeccably, in a shirt and trousers, with a familiar worn knapsack slung across one shoulder. Conrad's knapsack. A second knapsack -- presumably Christopher's own -- lay against the steps at his feet. Conrad grinned, the weariness of the last week melting away at the sight of his friend.

"Hello," Christopher called out as Conrad approached, "you're late. I expected you hours ago!"

Conrad laughed, "How would you know?"

"I asked Prendergast," Christopher answered. "He said you were usually home by five."

That answered the question of how he had Conrad's knapsack. "I stayed late to talk to one of my professors." His scheduled discussion with his Comparative Enchantments professor, which he was darkly afraid might be turning into an independent research project.

"Well, no matter," Christopher tossed the knapsack to Conrad and started down the street. "Come on, we're late."

"Is it even worth asking why you're here? Or where we're going?" Conrad rushed to catch up with Christopher, deliberately bumping against his shoulder a bit as he came up beside him.

"Well, I couldn't have you missing me, obviously, and you'll see when you get there." It became obvious fairly quickly at least what their initial destination was: Miss Merrill's former flat, with the pentagram still neatly drawn on the floor. As soon as Conrad unlocked the door, Christopher grabbed his hand and pulled him across the room. A moment later, they were stepping seemingly out of thin air into another world.

Conrad was briefly overwhelmed by the smell of salt and sea. They were standing on a rocky outcropping overlooking a vast ocean. The sea was a brilliant blue that seemed to go on forever, broken up by a series of small islands and even smaller jumbles of rock stretching out into the distance. Behind the islands, the setting sun was just beginning to turn the sky a soft shade of orange.

"Series five?" he asked, recognizing the general geography but not the specific location.

"That's the one. Come on, we'll miss the sunset."

"You kidnapped me off the street to come see the sunset?" But Conrad couldn't help but smile[;] the worlds of series five had always been among his favorites, although Christopher sometimes seemed strangely reticent to visit them.

"Don't be silly; you followed me entirely of free will. Besides, the sunset's simply a bonus. There's a festival going on out on one of the larger islands, a celebration of some treaty or other between the local human and mermaid communities. It sounded like just the thing to end a dull week of classes."

Conrad thought of the piles of required reading waiting for him back in the flat. "It sounds wonderful."

That night, they stayed on the small beach nestled against the side of the outcropping. They sat near the shore, eating a cold supper and watching the sunset, until the rising tide lapped at their toes, then they retreated above the high tide line and slept on blankets next to a makeshift fire, sheltered by the ridge of rock curving above them.

The next day they very nearly needed to be rescued from a complex entanglement involving a runaway mermaid princess, an unfortunate case of mistaken identity (Conrad's double on this world being, apparently, something of a small-time con-man), and half a dozen stolen umbrellas. It was the best time Conrad had had in months, although his homework never did get done.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Moontyger for the fabulous last minute beta, to [redacted until after reveal] for helping me brainstorm last-minute story ideas, and to [also temporarily redacted] for coming up with course names.
> 
> And a special thanks to the Yuletide chat folks for cheerleading and encouragement, and the hippos for the beta connection.
> 
> I've loved this series for almost 20 years (OMG I can't believe it's that long), and it was a delight rereading all the books for the first time in years and a delightful challenge getting to play within one of my favorite fictional universes


End file.
